A Fujiholics Story Revisited – Rich Waine

Fujiholics Story Revisited last caught up with Rich Waine back in April 2015 when he explained to us why he was a Fujiholic. In this article we ask what he has been doing, his opinions regards the current X Series line up and what he has planned for the future.

Good question, well I am still a active Fujiholic. I am still employed full time in the IT outsourcing industry so photography is still a hobby for me. But over the last 18 months I think I have found my comfort zone with photography.

As some people know, I am not the most outgoing or confident person unlike how I may appear on social media so I try and keep my photography within genres that I feel comfortable photographing. The last 18 months I’ve been encouraged to boost my confidence by follow Fujiholics Matt Hart, Jim Moody and our new convert Warren Millar as well as many other great friends such as Elaine, Jude, Sarah, etc so I have been trying to get to as many Fujiholics events as I can.

I fear these people are starting to see a dry humoured side of me they probably didn’t expect after first meeting me.

In your last article you stated you had a Fujifilm X-T1 and a Fujifilm X100T, has your equipment changed much?

It has, I still own my Fujifilm X-T1 which I still have a great fondness for. It has been my main camera for my music photography, it has been soaked with rain & beer and been knocked and dropped countless times so it’s never let me down, but since the last article I have traded the X100T in for the Fujinon 50-140mm f2.8 zoom lens which is just simply out of this world. The X100T is to me, probably the best fixed lens camera i have ever used but I was always conflicted if I should keep it in my collection or not mainly because I didn’t have the time to use it and as the 50-140mm got released, it made sense to trade it in for that.

I currently own a Fujifilm X-T10, which has become my everyday camera when out and about, it usually has my 35mm lens attached all the time. The X-T10 also doubles as my 2nd camera at music events where I use it with my 12mm Samyang lens, 18mm or 35mm Fujinon lens. I find that the X-T10 is great for walking between crowds at festivals and as a street photography camera.

I am also a proud owner of the compact X-Q2. I have been after one of these since Richard Wan from Fujifilm dangled one in front of me at The Photography Show in 2015. The build quality on it is very impressive and the focusing is very fast. It is nice to have it in my laptop bag or keeping in the glove box of my car.

Out of the current line up, is there anything that you have got your eye on?

There are many exciting products in the X Series line up at the moment. Over the last 18 months it has been great to see Fujifilm engage with customers and develop and further enhanced their product lines including the recent announcement of a medium format camera, the GFX 50s which stole the show at #Photokina2016

Fujifilm have also released the X-Pro2 and a X-T2 which feature bigger sensors and even better colour reproduction. I do not own any of these cameras at the moment but I have tested them on many occasions while attending various Fujiholics events/photowalks and I do intend to purchase a X-T2 when I have done enough dancing down at the social club to pay for it.

One of the surprise cameras I owned was the Fujifilm X-A2. Dubbed a ‘Selfie’ camera it was actually pretty good and the XC kit lens, although the outer case was made out of plastic it was a very good lens. It was a nice camera to use and at the time made a perfect starter camera for the younger photographers who are active with the likes of Facebook and Instagram. Fujifilm has since released its successor the X-A3 which I thinking about purchasing as they have upgraded the sensor size in that.

Hopefully, some time in early 2017, I plan on upgrading my Fujifilm SP-1 printer to the new SP-2 which is supposed to have better print quality and is now powered by AA batteries. These are cool to have at gigs/events as you can print someones photo and write your contact details on the back. They are also very cool to use in a wide range of photography projects.

You seem to have been doing a lot of music photography over the last 18 months, do you have anything else in mind?

Yes, I have been really interested in my music photography and I try and shoot as many local music festivals as possible. One of my long term projects I refer to as ‘Low Key Artists’ has really developed over the last 12 months or so. The project is probably a marmite sort of thing with some people but to me it is a way of showing a artist or musician isolated with a instrument etc. It has been great that many of the festivals I have been covering this year, I have been in the company of fellow Fujiholics Matt, Jim & Warren, but I do think that they should be thanking me for bringing a element of humour and wit to the group.

During 2017 I am hoping to do a lot more colour music photography and I am hoping to do more landscape, long exposure and motorsport photography.

I am also excited that I was recently asked to be part of the Fujiholics team. Fujiholics has really grown over the last 18 months and it is nice to be able to use technical skills towards helping to rebrand Fujiholics to help continue taking it forward and to give something back to the community that’s been a great confidence builder for me.

There is also some very exciting events & workshops planned so I am really looking forward to being part of those. I am quite looking forward to 2017.

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